What’s your objective in using the bus as a means of advertising?

We want to persuade our target group – the younger generation – to apply to the company with the advertising slogan “Pflanz Dir Deine Zukunft” (“Plant Your Future”) and the hashtag #AusbildungbeiKWS (“TrainingAtKWS”) on the orange bus. We aim to make school students, and their parents and grandparents, aware of our diverse vocational training and dual courses of study. Adults are often mentors to their children and grandkids: They give them that crucial push to apply.

How did you come up with the idea for the bus?

It came to us spontaneously at the beginning of January 2021. In the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, we tried billboards at supermarkets, bus stops and service stations. However, people drive by them quickly and can’t take in everything at a glance. But the bus is ideal: People have to stop behind it at a red light and can then read about all the vocations we offer training in on its rear. Another advantage is that it’s on the road round the clock, at different locations throughout the region – with its huge advertising space.

How do you otherwise advertise training at KWS?

We normally attend vocational training fairs to provide an overview of what we offer. That isn’t possible at the moment due to the pandemic, and we don’t think online fairs are an attractive alternative: Many young people find it difficult to present themselves or converse online.

Apart from billboards and flyers, we also use notice boards at schools and an advertising panel at one of our halls in Einbeck. And we reach many potential applicants on Instagram. Social media have become a very important way for us to engage with our target group.

Where do our trainees come from?

They apply from the region, but also from all over Germany – in particular to train in agricultural vocations: One of the current intake is from Munich, for example. By the way, the people who help us recruit new colleagues on the bus are also trainees here, I find that very authentic and it makes them identify more with the company. |

A lot of new faces were to be seen at the gate in Einbeck in August: 34 young people were starting a new chapter in their life. In the next three to three-and-a-half years, they will complete their training in the vocations of plant technologist, industrial mechanic, electronics engineer for operations technology, wholesale/import-export clerk and industrial clerk, and in the dual courses of study in business administration (B. A.), informatics (B. Sc.) and business informatics (B. Sc.).

Most of them work in Einbeck, and some in Wohlde, Seligenstadt, Wetze, Klein Wanzleben and Petkus (Baruth/Mark). The trainees in commercial vocations also work for spells in Berlin. For the first time, KWS is also training a farmer at the Dreileben location.

There’s always a lot of excitement mingled with a bit of trepidation at the start. There are many questions on trainees’ minds: What awaits me? Will I settle in at the company? What are my tasks? How is training conducted during the coronavirus pandemic? To make the induction easier for them, the trainees first take part in an orientation program organized by the heads of training. Instead of talks full of theory, there were many tasks that provoked a lot of laughter. A guided tour of Einbeck was also on the agenda.

This is the second year in a row that the training has started under conditions imposed by the pandemic. Yvonne Knaak-Schweiß, Training Coordinator at KWS, comments: “Of course, the situation is quite a challenge for our trainees. In collaboration with our instructors, we’re trying to organize the induction program and the time afterwards so that they still gain diverse and lively insights into our areas of work, have permanent contact persons at all times and can establish networks.” |